He was only the fourth athlete to collect three gold medals at a single world championships.

Twenty-four-year-old Defar shattered her own world record in the 5,000m, clocking 14:16.63 in Oslo in June, to lower her previous mark by more than eight seconds.

The current Olympic 5,000m champion, Defar also won the event in Osaka and twice lowered the world best for two miles. She also set a world record indoors in the 3,000m, running 8:23.72 in Stuttgart in February.

"I don't have words to describe how happy I am," said Defar, who dedicated the award to women athletes in Ethiopia.

Powell and Croatia's world high jump champion Blanka Vlasic received awards for the performances of the year.

Powell broke his own world record in the 100m in September, clocking 9.74 seconds, while Vlasic, who won 18 of 19 competitions this year, was honored for her 2.07m leap in Stockholm which equalled the third highest jump ever outdoors.